Products in the market place are often counterfeited and passed off as genuine causing grievous harm both to the producers, customers and to society at large. Easy identification and authentication of products by users continues to be an unmet need.
Various attempts to achieve the same are reported in the literature, they are as follows:
United States Patent Application 20090218401 discloses a method of verifying the identity of an object which has at least two sets of identification information, each arranged on or incorporated within a different surface of the object and are at a fixed relative spatial position to each other. In order to identify an object, a reading device obtains a first and a second signal from the first and second sets of identification information of the object respectively, determines the relative spatial position between the two sets of information, and determines the signature of the object. However, this technology suffers from a drawback that the determination of the signature needs tedious processing of the signals from identification information. This demands a sophisticated reading device needing cumbersome process, complex algorithms as well as accurate calibration making the manufacture process complex and expensive.
The Kezzler discloses (www.kezzler.com, last accessed on 13 Dec. 2010) secure track and trace suite for supply chain where at its core every single physical product item is provided with an identification code. Every single product item and packaging unit is marked with a unique, never to be repeated encrypted alphanumeric code. The user needs to send this code to a defined service provider via SMS to check the authentication of the package based on the response of the service provider in terms of Yes or No only.
However, this technology suffers from the drawback that the user does not receive any additional information to countercheck existence of the particular number or mark on the package. In this process the authentication process is completed merely by receiving information in terms of receiving SMS from the service provider. In case the service provider system is hacked or tampered/compromised, this authentication process would be invalid.
Review of the prior art reveals following drawbacks:    Manufacturing tags with a set of identification features disposed and configured to a fixed relative spatial position with respect to each other need special equipment and processes resulting in enhanced manufacturing costs;    The process of establishing relationship between two identification information features and arriving at a defined signature based on the interrelation of the signals generated by both the information features also need complex operating algorithms which demand the use of very specialized processors;    Randomized tags further need to be read using fairly complex and expensive readers thereby restricting the application of such solutions to high cost items only;    Reading of randomized tags with desired precision and accuracy demand frequent calibration of the readers making the operations cumbersome;    Existing SMS based systems require a SMS to be sent to a particular defined number of service centre by the end user and confirmation of the authentication is then sent to the user by the service centre. Such systems suffer from the weakness that the user has to send SMS to particular number and in response the user receives only status of authentication. The user does not receive any additional information to countercheck existence of the particular number or mark on the package. In this process the authentication process is completed merely by receiving information in terms of receiving SMS from the service provider. In case the service provider system is hacked or tampered, this authentication process would be invalid.
There is a need to develop an integrated identification and authentication real-time secured networked system and method to identify an object and authenticate the same without the involvement of complex and sophisticated reading devices and process employed in the prior art.
The present invention discloses an integrated identification and authentication system comprising of a centralized data processing unit, communication means, manufacturing unit and a user interactive device wherein the centralized processing unit is capable of randomly creating and assigning a secured identifier for an object based on input of an already assigned identification information/feature of the object, simultaneously randomly generating a second identifier, creating an association between the first identifier and the second identifier, storing identifiers and their said associations in the said centralized processing system enabling sequenced identification and authentication process. The method of sequenced identification of an object and further authentication of the same is based on combination of assigned identification feature “X” and a randomly generated identifier “Y”. A secured identifier for the object is randomly created and assigned based on the input of an already assigned identification information/feature of the object, wherein this combination enables stage wise validation and authentication of the object. This obviates problems associated with reading, calibration and manufacture of random tag/information that are to be disposed on the object specifically for creating a signature based on special aspects of the at least two identification information.